Effort underway to legalize marijuana in Missouri

Former prosecutor says pot law enforcement wastes resources

Supporters of the idea want to put a question on a statewide ballot asking Missourians to vote yes or no to legalize the drug.

A town meeting at a Northland library Wednesday was the latest in a series of similar gatherings sponsored by a group that backs the idea. Among its allies is a man with a lot of law enforcement experience under his belt.

Brian Leininger said the typical law enforcement approach of seizing marijuana plants and arresting the people responsible doesn't do much to stop the marijuana business.

"The reason it's a problem is because it's illegal and not because it's an illegal drug,' Leininger said.

Leininger is a former county prosecutor and a legal counsel for the Kansas Highway Patrol. He said his time in those jobs changed his attitude toward marijuana laws.

"Over the time I was a prosecutor, it seemed to me we were spending a lot of time and effort and money on something that wasn't a very big problem, or didn't have to be a very big problem," he said.

Leininger was a guest speaker at the meeting organized by Show-Me Cannabis. The group said Leininger's presence is another example of how attitudes about marijuana are changing.

The group also argues that marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol and legalizing it takes the criminal profit out of growing the plants and dealing the drugs.

With Washington and Colorado voting last year to make pot legal, the group hopes to turn the town meetings into a political movement.

"Especially in Missouri, it's the Show-Me State. You're supposed to have to show people. And Colorado and Washington are showing us how this can work," said John Payne of Show-Me Cannabis.

The group said it hopes to put the issue on the ballot in 2014 or 2016.

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